Pig Slaughter: A Day in the Life of a Cyber ​​Fraud Fighter

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Fighting cyber fraud and helping to make the internet safer is one of my passions. I've helped create solutions at Square and Facebook to protect users from malicious activity and currently research and advise clients on emerging threats. In late 2021, I focused on understanding a new technique used by fraudsters, which combines the emotional manipulation of romance scams with the allure of crypto investing. This is what is commonly called "pig butchery".

During a routine client meeting, one of Sift's dating app clients reported a specific type of suspicious behavior - pig slaughter - that he was noticing on his platform . As a casual dating app user myself, I immediately noticed these types of accounts were prevalent in other dating apps, and took the opportunity to investigate. I rolled up my sleeves and signed up for all the major dating apps under a pseudonym to understand the anatomy of the scam.

To my surprise, I discovered an elaborate and increasingly common type of romance scam targeting users of dating apps. In this scam, the targets are called "pigs" prepared for slaughter - they are bred for a juicy profit under the promise of a happy ending and big crypto payouts. But eventually, the scammer gets away with the victim's money.

I have found that all fraudulent accounts are similar in that they are profiles claiming to be successful businessmen. They often talk about financial freedom and wanting to retire early to travel the world with their family. Fraudsters show luxurious lifestyle and photos of models and include irrelevant answers to questions in the app. They message unsuspecting users and then try to push the conversation out of the app and onto an encrypted messaging platform, like WhatsApp, as quickly as possible. This allows them to maintain their anonymity and evade detection by a particular platform.

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Once the conversation is in a secure, unmonitored channel, the scammer tricks the victim into investing in a fake crypto platform, controlled by the scammer, ultimately allowing the scammer to get away with everything money "invested".

Cyber ​​fraud: infiltration with a pig butcher

After learning about the sophistication and cruelty of the scam, and its potential impact on the estimated 50 million Americans who use dating apps, I wanted to learn more to better understand how to protect businesses and consumers. And, I thought, what better way to get a glimpse inside than to go undercover as a guinea pig?

Once I logged in with a scammer's profile, they immediately started "love bombarding" me with repeated flattering and romantic messages. I knew it was a quick way to gain my trust, so I kept playing the game.

After he felt he had established enough trust with me, the scammer suggested that we continue our conversation on WhatsApp. I obeyed and after less than two days they started talking about money. At first, the scammer started bragging about his crypto earnings and bragging about how much he had invested. He went on to promise to teach me how to invest in crypto, so that I don't miss out on the opportunity to make some extra money. I didn't want to blow my cover, so I hesitated at first, to which...